Personal and professional background

1960 – born in Kleve (North Rhine-Westphalia)

1978 – Abitur in Kleve

1978 – 1979 one-year-internship

1979 – 1980 – military service

1980 – 1985 agriculture studies at the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn

1985 – examination for Agricultural Engineering (Dipl.-Ing. agr.)

1985 – 1990 – scientific employee at the Federal Agricultural Research Centre, Braunschweig-Völkenrode

1988 – 1989 – lectureship for animal husbandry (animal-friendly pigsties) at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Kassel

1989 – doctorate (Dr. agr.) at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering at the Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen. Dissertation title “Untersuchung zum Einfluß von Klima und Bodenbeschaffenheit auf das Wahlverhalten tragender Sauen als Grundlage zur Beurteilung der Umwelt in Schweinehaltungssystemen"

1990 – appointment as professor for Agricultural Engineering and process technology at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Applied Sciences Kiel